Figure 2 | Cell Death & Disease

Figure 2

From: Protective effect of autophagy on human retinal pigment epithelial cells against lipofuscin fluorophore A2E: implications for age-related macular degeneration

Figure 2

A2E stimulated autophagy in RPE cells. (a) Representative TEM photomicrographs of RPE cells exposed to 25 μM A2E for 15 min, 30 min, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. Autophagic vacuoles are indicated by black arrows. Scale bar: 200 nm. (b) After being exposed to 25 μM A2E for 3, 6, 12, and 24 h, representative images of RPE cells displaying LC3 puncta were immediately visualized by fluorescence microscopy. Nuclei were stained with DAPI. White arrows indicate the LC3-positive puncta. Scale bar: 20 μm. (c) Quantification of the LC3-positive puncta per cell. Data are shown as the means±S.E.M., n=6. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ANOVA. (d) Expression levels of Beclin-1, LC3-I, and LC3-II protein in RPE cells at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after the introduction of 25 μM A2E were quantified by western blot. β-Actin was used as the internal control. (e and f) Quantification of expression levels of Beclin-1 and LC3-II proteins. The data are presented as the means±S.E.M., n=3. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ANOVA

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